Law & Grace - How do we approach the gospel of Matthew?

Good morning. Before we proceed into the passage, I just want to present an opportunity before you. Doug, with the assistance of Bud, has been taking care of the opportunity on one Sunday afternoon a month to go over to the Highline Care Center. to address the people there that are invited to come to the meeting. And that's been going on for some years. Doug obviously is having a more difficult time doing that.

If the Lord should motivate you by grace to be interested and drawn to that ministry, please come and see me and I'll be glad to give you more information or answer any questions. So anyway, a gracious opportunity that I'd like to present to you and for you to consider.

Now, how will we approach the Gospel of Matthew? How will we proceed through it? As we mentioned last week, we will probably be weeks to months, should the Lord allow us that long, going through the book. So what approach are we going to take? Can we just push the question button on the computer and all the answers will come up?

Maybe not. Or is the Gospel of Matthew just astoundingly and mind-bogglingly complex, like a sea of Rubik's Cubes? Or do we just have to look at the entire book just all about the same, and it is what it is, and just kind of flatten it out, make no distinctions, just read it? Well, maybe not that. Or does understanding the book really matter as long as we keep on trying? Well, yes, I would say so.

So how will we approach the Gospel of Matthew? How will we take a look at this? This book here, the Gospel of Matthew, contains one of four valid records of the life of Christ. You'll hear about other Gospels. I'll tell you flat out, they're bogus. The Gospel of Thomas is one of those you'll hear most often, History Channel and Discovery Channel and places like that. But they're bogus. All other Gospels were written far later than the first century. So, here is the first of the four valid records of the life of Christ. Interpretations of the whole book and of various passages certainly go across a spectrum, and there's all sorts of interpretations if you want to look for the variety.

Is Jesus just sort of this thumbs up, yeah, how you doing, dude, kind of guy? Is he this guy that's really kind of stern and partway mad? Or is he sort of the Jedi Jesus, going out there and doing battle, you know? What exactly does Matthew portray? And so that's what we'll be taking a look at here, all right? As we study it here, we're going to take a particular approach, and it's this. How will we approach this book so that we arrive at the one intended meaning for each passage that Matthew and God intended to convey?

You see, we're meeting here this morning because you understood our intent about when and where we were meeting, right? We will say about the various things that are happening throughout this month, and it's a busy month. Lots of different opportunities out there. What do we do? We say, here it is. Here's the time. Here's what's happening. We have one intent. And people don't walk out of the room, boy, I wonder what on earth Courtney was talking about, right? Because you understand that he had one particular meaning. Occasionally, we'll do a pun or a play on words or something of that sort. But we also understand that that's what it is. And we laugh, hopefully, or maybe groan, depending on how bad it is, right?

But those are intended double meanings. In this case, in scripture, God intended and Matthew intended, as he wrote, to communicate a specific meaning for each verse and passage that we look at. Not to have us wondering what of 20 different things he possibly meant. So that's one approach. We're going to be looking for the one intended meaning.

Not satisfied with there are three interpretations of this. You might have seen, even if you go to the Christian bookstores, three views on this and five views on that and four views on that. Do you know that all but one of those is wrong? Most of the book is wrong. Most of the book is wrong. Sometimes they're all wrong, but anyway.

So we'll approach this book of Matthew, we'll ask the question, what message does God inspire? What message did God inspire? We mentioned or showed previously 2 Timothy 2, excuse me, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. And that passage says that God inspired, that is God breathed is the literal meaning. What is in scripture?

God intended to convey a message. It was not given with the intent that we are bewildered and confused. God did intend a specific meaning. It's that meaning that we're going to be looking for. What did God intend, not what can I make it say? There was a famous bishop during the 1800s who said, give me five dollars and five minutes. I think with inflation, the number's gone up, but five dollars and five minutes and I can make the Bible say anything you want. Right. But that's not the intent that God had. God did not give us his words so that we can make it say whatever we want. He had something specific in mind. That's the meaning.

That's the intent that we'll be looking for. So to answer that question, we're going to be looking at elements of language, elements of history, and elements of culture. Those are the three areas, as we go through, we'll be looking at. In our church doctrinal statement, we've called this grammatical historical interpretation. That is, we look at what was the intended meaning in the context of that time, in the language that they spoke, in the history that they had, and the context of the culture. Not because they're interesting, or I think they're fascinating, but that's not the point. But so that we understand what Matthew intended. It's all a matter of getting the full context. The full context.

So who is Jesus talking to as he speaks throughout the Gospel of Matthew? Christ made it clear when we included the entire verse reference last week. in your handout sent only he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that's from Matthew 15 he sent his disciples out two by two and I chuckle with whoever got matched up with Judas anyway he sent his disciples out two by two and he said go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel do not even go on a road that leads to the Gentiles and don't go to the Samaritans either only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Why? Again and again Jesus referred to those who were Gentiles, that is non-Jews, okay?

If you're Gentile, you're a non-Jew. As another people, that's them, that's another people apart. He was talking to the Jews. Not a part of his intended audience as he spoke. There are, in fact, but a few rare instances where it actually would accommodate a conversation with a Gentile. He intentionally spoke to and targeted Jews as his audience.

Now, as Jesus goes through, and we will read through the Gospel of Matthew, we're going to find Jesus made multiple references to the law, to Moses, the altar, and the temple in Jerusalem. Matthew 5, 17, and 18. Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass in the law until all is accomplished.

But that was spoken to who? To the Jews in the land of Israel, who had the law given to Israel, right? And we'll, of course, pursue that a little bit in more detail. But it's very clear that this is who he's referring to. Abolish the Law or the Prophets. One of the ways that Jesus actually repeatedly referred to the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, it was the only scripture in his day. One of the ways he referred to the Old Testament is he would call it the Law and the Prophets. That is, how does it begin? With the Law. How does it end? With the prophets. So we would say A to Z, right? A to Z. As a matter of fact, in Revelation it was to say Alpha to Omega, right? Same thing. Matthew 5, 23 and 24, later on.

Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar... Anybody been doing that lately? Presenting an offering at the altar? You know, how you go in and bring your bowl in and the priest slaughters it and... Oh, you haven't? Okay, well maybe we should start accommodating that. So next week, remember your bowl, okay? Boy, can you imagine what this place would be like?

Anyway, therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, and who is your brother? A fellow Jew, right? Your brother has something against you. Leave your offering there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. It's that important.

But it's still about the altar, and it's still about the priests, and it's still about the temple, right? It's directed to the Jews. Right now you can't even find the offering in the altar place. It's at best a bit of rubble that's mostly been excavated by the archaeologists. Here's Matthew chapter 8, after what is known as the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 8.4, And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one, but go, show yourself to the priests, and present the offering that Moses commanded as a testimony to them.

What was he talking to? This was the leper, the guy with leprosy, who had been healed. And the proper thing to do, according to the law, was to go and have the priest verify that you've been healed. And you follow that up with an offering, that's according to the law, as a testimony to them, that is, to everybody that you have in fact been healed, right? This all had to do with the law. Now, go and try to find someone who is of the tribe of Levi. Where would you find them? How would they know they're of the tribe of Levi? They don't. You can't.

And it's because he was talking about the Jews in the context of the land and the law and the temple. Here is the view into the temple. What's in the foreground area is what's called the Court of Women. And I have to underscore, it's the court only of Jewish women, because there are actually three entrances, one on each side and one kind of behind in the picture. At each entrance was a warning, don't come in here unless you're Jewish, otherwise you're going to die. I'm paraphrasing. So this was the court of women.

This was the place where the Jewish women were allowed to come. This is also the place where the widow gave her mite or a little tiny coin. This is the place where the publican and the Pharisee would stand, where the Pharisee would say, thank you, Lord, that I am so righteous. And the publican or the tax collector would say, Lord, have mercy on me. That would take place here.

That would be the place in the front. And then right in that little semi-circular area that you see there, the steps, several times a day they would have a Levitical choir come and sing. And they would play harps. The word is kathara, where we get our word guitar. They would play and sing right there. During the time when sacrifices would be presented, you'd go through those doors and go in behind there to present your sacrifice to the priest. None of that exists anymore. You can't go there and do that. You can't do what Jesus said because the temple is not there. The priests are not there. As a matter of fact, that place now is somewhere fairly close to where the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim Dome of the Rock is located now.

Matthew 21, some chapters later in the book. This is where Jesus cleansed the temple, as they say. Matthew 21, 12 and 13. And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

He said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a robber's den. Now I have had people more than once come in here and start telling me how things are supposed to happen here in the church based on this verse. This is not a temple. We're not doing sacrifices here. The context is not the same. So Jesus went in and did something in a place that right now doesn't exist and it won't exist until the rebuilding of the temple begins and you and I will not be here. It is impossible for us to reproduce this context and no time during our lifetime will it happen or even can it happen.

Here is the temple area. On the outside, on the perimeter of the temple, those colonnades, or porticoes, were in existence. The entire temple area was about six football fields in area. And then what you see off in one corner, let's see if I can locate it here, off in one corner around here is the corner of the inner part of the temple. Inside that wall is where the Court of Women is located and farther back uh... out of uh... view in this slide is where the sacrificial area was but in this wide open courtyard all around it that was where the money changers would have all the the money changing tables and they'd charge a special fee for changing the money they'd say oh your money is no good that's not temple money and then they would have all the birds and animals of different kinds and sizes. And then you, after making money on the coin exchange, they would also make money on selling you the animals. And so the whole area turned into a marketplace.

And that's what Jesus was turning over. Notice he didn't beat the money changers. What does it say he did? He drove out the animals. Imagine, drove them crazy, let the birds go. Letting the birds go, drove the animals out the front, and dumped over the money. Whose money is who? I don't know. Right? He didn't whip the men, but boy, he sure made a mess. From a human standpoint. But he cleansed the temple. But that's something you couldn't even do now. You couldn't even begin to do. Matter of fact, you get close to the Dome of the Rock, and they just don't permit Jews in there. Couldn't even begin to happen. So right in here is where the money changers were.

Jesus spoke almost entirely to the people of Israel only in the land of Israel who are all under the entire all 613 laws of the Law of Moses. He very infrequently spoke to Gentiles. At more than one instance he was approached by Gentiles and refused to talk to them. Gentiles meaning non-Jews. He refused to talk to them. Why? He was focused on the people of Israel.

Jesus spoke to his disciples as people of Israel only in the land of Israel who were all under the law of Moses which was given to Israel until near the very end of each of the Gospels, Matthew included. Only near the end of each of the Gospels did Jesus address the disciples as apostles of the church. And by the way, they didn't know that when they were invited to be disciples, they didn't know they were going to be apostles. They didn't know what they were signing up for. But only towards the end did he begin to talk to them about what this meant. Most of the Gospels, each of the four, are directed towards Jesus talking to the Jews.

So, don't we just take everything as if it directly applies to us? And of course you know how near and dear to my heart squirrels are, so I have to put one in the picture. So the tendency is for people to say, oh, because matter of fact, a lot of you have it. I have it too. You know, the red letter Bibles. If Jesus said it, oh, then that's especially important. I've got to make sure I do the stuff that's in the red letter. Well, not necessarily. Not necessarily. Where not to take everything is generally applying to us. It might not fit.

So when Jesus said to Judas, Judas, what you do, do quickly. We don't take that as a command for each of us to betray Christ to the chief priests, right? Jesus said it, didn't he? So do we take that as a command to go and betray Christ to the chief priests? First difficulty, where are you going to find a chief priest these days, right? So that's a tough one. The reality is that wasn't intended for us, was it? Here's another one. Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus and Titus to Crete. He sent Timothy to Ephesus to correct the false teachers. He sent Titus to Crete to appoint elders.

OK? So what do we do? Do we just get as fast as we can as soon as the, well, we've got to wait until the fellowship meal's over with, but then we head out to DIA as fast as we can, get on the next plane to Ephesus or Crete, right? Is that what we do? No, because it's not directed to us. And I think the people over in Crete would be very puzzled.

OK. We must always recognize who is being addressed and interpret accordingly. We always have to ask that question. Go thou and do likewise. Do what? We've got to ask who, right? Okay. How about the other extreme? Suppose we just ignore everything that applies only to the Jews. Oh, we don't have to worry about that. We can just ignore it because that's for the Jews. Do we do that? Oh, not so fast. We don't just set aside as irrelevant what is directly written only to the people of Israel.

All of Scripture is inspired and profitable. And when Paul wrote this to Timothy, all of scriptures inspired and profitable, the New Testament wasn't complete. So he's even talking substantially about the Old Testament. Even what happened in earlier times was written for our instructions. Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 10.

What happened to them, what was recorded, was recorded for our benefit. So we don't just set it aside because that was to the Jews. There are things we need to know. One reason, one big reason, is we need to know the difference between law and grace. And we don't get that if we only just study the grace part. We need to see how much law contrasts with it.

The letters written to the church make many, many references to the writings, people, events, and truths written directly to the Jews, including the Gospels. We've said in the Revelation elective, that was 2009, 70% of the entire book of Revelation, that's over two-thirds, is straight out of the Old Testament. So if we set aside what was written from the Old Testament, we lose more than two-thirds of what's in the book of Revelation, which was directed to the Church. So this idea of ignoring everything that directly applies only to the Jews is not going to work. It doesn't fit. It's not the right answer.

So what do we do? We compare and contrast. When we compare, we ask, what about what is said in the Gospels is the same or similar to what is addressed to the church? And then we have to ask why. And that's an appropriate question. When we contrast, we ask, what about what is said in the Gospels is different from what is written to us who are in the church, and why?

Now, I'm going to have a couple of passages here that I'm going to use both now and later on. In Matthew 16, right in the middle of what's called the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, for if you forgive others for their transgressions, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But look at verse 15. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Oh, that's almost scary. And you know why it's scary? Jesus said it to the Jews who are under the law. Now, contrast grace. Contrast, again, the difference.

Ephesians 4.32, written by Paul to the believers in the church at Ephesus. These were mostly Gentiles.

He writes this, Ephesians 4.32, Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other. Well, that's the same message, right? As Matthew 6, you should forgive, but look at the difference. Just as God in Christ has also has forgiven you. Is your forgiveness in question? No. That's not the issue. Are you forgiven if you forgive? Yeah. Are you forgiven if you don't forgive? Yeah.

Radical difference between law and grace. Under law, if I don't forgive, God won't forgive me. Under grace, forgive because you've already been forgiven. An entirely different motivation. We're just so thankful God has forgiven us. Of course I'll forgive, right? Of course I'll forgive. Because He's already forgiven me under grace. When we take this approach, we will find that the Word of God can be very clearly understood and is consistent throughout.

We Compare and we contrast. What's the same and what's different? People, if they fall into a hole in this, what they do is they fail to do one or the other. They always try to make everything similar, or they try to make everything so opposite that they don't see what's similar. We do both. We compare and we contrast. What's similar and what's different? Here is a comparison, a similar theme.

While we have said that the Gospel of Matthew is directed to the Jews, and in keeping with the anticipation of the still coming kingdom, we do not want to convey that the Gospel of Matthew has nothing for us in the church. There are a number of ways in which the content that we're going to see here in the Gospel of Matthew as we move along has direct application to believers in the church and the body of Christ. For you and me. I've been telling you it was written to the Jews. Jesus was speaking to the Jews. But the content is going to have lessons for us to learn from. Why? Here's point one.

The character of God is always the same and God does not lie or change his mind. Does the character of God change from the time and the place of God speaking to Moses and delivering the law until now? Is the character of God any different? No, God does not change. Therefore, whatever is said about God's character is going to be consistent. And whatever Jesus says about God's character, I can count on it too, because God doesn't change. Another is that God is always the creator and everything else has a creature relationship to Him.

Are the angels created beings? Yes. Were the Jews created beings? Yes. Are the Jews, will the Jews be created beings? Yes. Are we created beings? Yes. Everything else has a creature-creator relationship. Everything with God. And that doesn't change. And that's true from Genesis all the way to Revelation. Once having fallen, all those in Adam have the same nature, the sinful nature. And that comes from the earliest chapters of the Old Testament on into the New Testament. We're going to find that same nature is portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew.

Salvation for all those in Adam is always by faith in God's provision. See, even though we make distinctions about okay here's the Jews and their time and now we're here in this time and we've got a different group of people and we'll make distinctions but salvation is always by faith. Where does Paul go as he writes to make that point that salvation is always by faith? He jumps to the time before Moses and looks to Abraham. By faith, Abraham believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him, God reckoned it to Abraham as righteousness by faith.

The earth that we walk from the day that Adam chose to sin, the earth we walk is cursed until the time all things are restored. That was true when Christ walked the earth, it was true when he talked to the Jews, it's true right now. Has it changed? No. The earth has fallen. Another truth that is constant, though Israel has a different relationship to the kingdom that Christ speaks of in the Gospel of Matthew than we do, we also have a place in a similar forward-looking time perspective on the coming kingdom. It is still coming, yet in the future. That's constant. Time-wise, It's still looking forward to that time. Like Israel, the entrance into the kingdom is not on the basis of something earthly, but a spiritual.

You see, the Jews thought because that they were of the right genealogy, they had the genetics of Abraham. They had the genetics of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They figured if I'm Jewish, of course, man, I'm in. There was even a Jewish myth that said at the end time that Abraham stands at the gate of hell to make sure no Jew ever got in. They thought it was all about genetics and genealogy.

Jesus came with a different set of news. He said, wait a minute, there's some spiritual conditions here. And even made this rather shocking distinction. Strive to enter the narrow gate. Those who enter the wide, many people go there. You actually have to make a choice which gate you go through. He says, even people who come to me and say, Lord, Lord, are not going to make it into the kingdom. There's some spiritual criteria here, and you need to know it, is what he told them. They were stunned. And we'll find that as we go through this. Absolutely shocked to hear that.

Just because you have the genealogy doesn't get you into the kingdom. And for us, just coming into church doesn't mean you're going to pass heaven's gates. I don't care how many times you do it, okay? Because it's not just physical activity of any kind or having the right genealogy that's going to cut it. The person who trusts in Christ for salvation because he died, he believes that Christ died, for his sins and was buried and rose again. That's the one that's going to walk through heaven's gates and not otherwise.

While Israel was then under the principle of law when Jesus walked the earth, and we in the church are under the principle of grace. By the way, grace doesn't mean that anything goes. Because we're under grace, does that mean you can go ahead and kill anybody and it doesn't matter? No. Otherwise, there'd be none of us here. Right? Grace does not mean that all of a sudden morals don't count. What grace means is that it's an entirely different basis on which you're blessed. An entirely different basis on which you're motivated. Instead of being fearful, boy, I don't want to get those stones thrown at me. It's, thank God, I'm already forgiven. Thank God, I'm already forgiven. And that motivates what we do and don't do.

We're going to find that the ethics, morals, and even some of the spiritual principles conveyed in the Gospel of Matthew have a lot in common with what is revealed for the Church Age believers in the New Testament. That's one thing about the law that seems right. Are those the right morals? Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of things in there you need to look at. Yeah, it seems the same. Notice this comparison. Here's Exodus 20, 15, and 16.

You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Recognize that? It's right out of the Ten Commandments. It's the law. That's the rules. Now, if you obey it, according to the law, you'll be blessed. If you don't obey it, you'll be cursed. As a matter of fact, for those two, you'll get to study rocks up close. That's the way the law works.

Under grace, Paul starts off Ephesians 1.3 and says, you've already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He waits until chapter 4 to say, now let's talk about your lying and stealing problem.

Ephesians 4.25, therefore laying aside falsehood. 28, he who steals must steal no longer.

Is the morality different? No. It's the same God. But the basis for blessing and the motivation behind it is entirely different. And one more thing, those who heard these words in Exodus 20 had no empowerment to carry it out. But these words in Ephesians 4, 25 and 28, we are empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to carry this out. Big difference. And why? Because God doesn't change. Why is the morality the same? Because God's the same. Example, neither the Gospel of Matthew nor the epistles to the church encourage endless repetitions of the same prayer. Jesus spoke about a practice of just repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating the same prayer. And you may have come from a church or religious background where you're familiar with that.

Here, What we see in the picture in Buddhism, what do they do? They have prayers on these wheels and they have a guy going along and spinning the wheels. Why? Because every time he spins the wheel, that makes the prayer be restated, so to speak. It's prayer by works. Vain repetitions. Christ warned against that. That's Buddhism. Vain repetitions. Here's another one. God does not change.

Both the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistles to the Church call us to forgive. We pointed these same passages out. Was there a contrast? Yes, there was a big one. Matthew 6 says you'd better forgive if you want to be forgiven. Ephesians 4 says forgive because you've been forgiven. Big difference. Do they both call for forgiveness? Yes. Why? Because God doesn't change. So we contrast what's different.

Jesus was born and presented himself as the King of Israel to the people of Israel and the land of Israel who were under the law given to Israel and promised earthly blessings in Israel, in the land of Israel, if they obeyed the laws given to Israel. And somehow Israel has something to do with all that, right?

Since the people of Israel generally rejected Jesus as their King, compared to the whole nation that was a small group that gathered there on the day of Pentecost, God brought about the body known as the church. You realize that if the Jews had accepted Christ as their king, we wouldn't be here. God would have been doing something entirely different. But because the Jews rejected Christ as their king, we have been brought about to, as Paul says in Romans, to make Israel jealous.

We are the bride of Christ, to live under grace and to be, and I use this term a couple times so I'm going to explain it, blessed heavenly. What do I mean by that? We've been blessed already in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's what I mean by blessed heavenly. Here's another contrast that we're going to see.

The two Gospels, now don't get too confused, The two Gospels in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Book of Acts. Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the Israelites, and I don't mean all to everyone, down to a person, but across all the spectrum of Israel. He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom in Israel. Here's Matthew 4, 23, before the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, which was in Israel, teaching in their synagogues, because he was talking to the Jews, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. That's not the same as the gospel of believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Different gospel.

Matthew 9.35, two chapters after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was going through all the cities and villages of Israel, teaching in their synagogues, because he was talking to Jews, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom continued to be presented to the people of Israel all the way to the last verses in the book of Acts. Here's Acts 28, 30, and 31. And earlier in that same chapter, verse 23, is a similar message.

And he, Paul, stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered. Jesus also preached the gospel of grace, that is, that he died for our sins, was buried, and then rose from the dead. He told it to the disciples repeatedly. He told them in Matthew 20 verse 19 that he was going to be crucified and the third day he'd be raised up.

And that's the gospel. Do you believe it? You're saved. The gospel of grace continued also to be preached to Jews and then the Gentiles. Acts 20, Paul's talking to the elders from Ephesus for the very last time on his earthly life. talking to them about testifying solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. So here's a contrast. How do you live and how are you blessed?

That's one of the things we're going to see. in the coming earthly reign of Christ in the kingdom, this coming kingdom, the people of Israel will all be blessed in the land of Israel because they will have the Holy Spirit indwelling each and every one of them so as to know all 613 laws of the law of Moses without a teacher, no rabbis, no rabbis, they won't need them because they will know it and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live it out.

And therefore, because they live it out, they will be blessed. Absolutely. They'll be blessed just as we are blessed. That is, it's already accomplished. It's done. It will happen. In the church, we in the body of Christ are already blessed heavenly. That is, we are blessed in Christ in the heavenly places. All of us having the Holy Spirit in Christ always indwelling us so that Christ's life lives through us apart from the law. They will be empowered to live out the law. We will be empowered to live apart from the law. Big contrast. Big difference. So next week, please do not bring the bulls. I have nothing to do with them. I wouldn't have the foggiest idea where to begin.

Okay, let's pray. Lord, as we look at these passages, as we begin to scan across the chapters of Matthew, we thank you for what you have made clear, for what you have compared, and what you have contrasted in your writings here. Thank you for the clarity that we can have because of your work and your word. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.